


our particles they’re burning up because they yearn for each other

by reachedthebitterend



Series: strangeness and charm [1]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood Magic, Demonic Possession, M/M, Witch AU, semi graphic fight scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 15:29:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18672454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reachedthebitterend/pseuds/reachedthebitterend
Summary: The one where Michael is a witch and Alex is a Witch Hunter





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a post that said: cowboys are witches and horses are their familiars, and whole bunch of prompts given to me by [@allthehearteyes](https://allthehearteyes.tumblr.com/l) on tumblr <3

Michael appears in the middle of the Crashdown cafe and takes in the scene before him for one second.

Max kneeling in the middle of a salt circle on the floor leaning over Liz, who Michael hadn’t even known was back in town let alone in contact with Max, his hand pressed to her chest, eyes closed, breathing heavily.

There was a dark scorch mark beside them the remains of a used spell and Michael could just barely smell the smoke and sulfur and ozone scent of Max doing Black Level Magic.

Liz comes back to life with a gasp, and Max leans back on his heels, looking at Michael with wide eyes.

“I had to save her,” he responds to the unspoken question Michael has bouncing around in his head.

Michael just exhales roughly. “Go.”

Max gives him a guilty look.

“Just go,” Michael says more forcefully when Max looks like he’s about to protest. “And please explain the risks to her before you let her go.”

Max nods his head once.

Liz groans waking up. “Max, what hap-?”

The rest of her question is lost as Max puts his hands on her and then they’re both gone.

Michael sighs, casts a quick glamour and jumps on top of counter to wait.

It doesn’t take long.

If Michael is being honest, he’s expecting one of the Manes’ Brood to show up so he could kick a little ass. It’s been too long since he’s fought with a hunter, and all the Manes Men were specialized.

And lo and behold. One of the Manes’ does show up in their custom all black attire with the silver emblem marking them a Witch Hunter, just the last Manes that Michael ever expected to see back in Roswell.

Michael’s defensive spell fizzles in his hands and his eyes go wide.

“Alex,” he breathes unable to help himself jumping down from the counter but not getting any closer.

Michael vividly remembers the last time that he saw Alex, in that damn tool shed that featured in his nightmares, the place where he found and  _knew_  and lost Alex.

Alex being held back by his father, his eyes wide with fear and guilt, the thick dark cursed potion that Jesse Manes had poured over Alex’s talisman before smashing the glass bottle on Michael’s left hand making sure the glass cut deep enough that the potion mixed with his blood immediately was smeared across his cheek. Michael had contained the curse to his hand, and had willed himself away.

Alex disappeared after that and no amount of questions or threats would make anyone tell Michael what happened to him.

And now here he was standing in front of Michael dressed like the Witch Hunter he never wanted to be, eyes wide with shock as he stares at Michael as though he’s seeing a ghost.

The crossbow in Alex’s hands drops to the floor with a clatter, and he takes a step forward almost as though he can’t help himself.

Michael hisses and steps back as his left hand spasms as though millions of jolts of electricity are running through his nerves.

Alex stops moving and guilt floods his eyes before he straightens and makes a gesture with his hands and the crossbow flies into them.

Michael huffs out a laugh, “Copycat.”

Alex’s lips twitch, but he just shakes his head and inhales deeply, giving Michael a serious look.

“What are you doing here, Guerin?”

Michael shrugs and leans back against the counter. “I was craving a milkshake.”

Alex’s eyes dart around the empty room and Michael knows that his glamour is holding up, but he needs a distraction just in case Alex can see through it.

“The better question is, what are  _you_  doing here? Because you just disappeared overnight. I was so sure that I was going to pick up the newspaper one day and read all about how they found your body buried in the backyard.”

Alex flinches and he takes a step back keeping his eyes on Michael.

“I’m trying to do my job,” he says darting his eyes towards where dark scorch mark was on the floor.

“And the last ten years?”

Alex looks back to him and clenches his jaw. “Training and hunting in Europe.”

“Sounds like a blast,” Michael drawls.

Alex gives a hollow laugh. “You have no idea.”

Michael purses his mouth at that, but doesn’t press any further. “Still doesn’t explain what you’re doing back in Roswell.”

Alex squares his shoulders and raises his crossbow, pointing it at Michael. “I don’t think I have to explain anything to you. You’re the one standing in the middle of an obviously glamoured demonic ritual.”

Michael laughs. “Is that what you think this is? Does your daddy give you all the same script? Are you gonna call me a demonic half breed next?”

“No,” Alex says, and Michael feels taken aback by the word. “You’re obviously protecting someone. It fits your MO more than using Black Level Magic.”

Alex looks at him like he knows him and Michael wants to scoff, but he finds himself unable to do anything else but stare back.

“And besides,” he continues looking at Michael intently. “It may have been ten years, but I still remember what you  _feel_  like and this doesn’t feel like you.”

Michael is still frozen which is why he doesn’t immediately realize that Alex is moving closer to the scorch marks, his hand outstretched.

Michael reacts and summons fire. A spark of flame lights up right in front of Alex disappearing as soon as it appeared but it’s enough to make him stop and glare at Michael.

“I can’t let you do that.”

Alex gives him a look. “There are only two people in this world that you would do anything to protect. Max and Isobel. I can deduce easily which one of them it was without doing a reading.”

Michael clenches his hands to fists. “Don’t go there, Alex.”

“Isobel wouldn’t step foot in here after what happened with Rosa. Add that to the fact that Liz’s car is parked outside, and the fact that Max is a police officer who can’t afford to have another black mark on his paperwork, and it’s not that hard to figure out which one it was.”

Michael closes his eyes and inhales deeply before he fixes his stare on Alex.

Alex seems to realize that Michael is done playing around. Most of the Manes Brothers forget that Michael is dangerous because he doesn’t take anything seriously.

Alex like always is the exception to the rule.

“Alex,” Michael says as seriously as he can. “You should go.”

Alex gives him a look. “I have a job to do, Guerin. And just because it involves you, doesn’t mean I’m just going to let it go.”

“Fine,” Michael says and raises his hands in the air. “But fair warning, I’m not gonna take it easy on you.”

Alex doesn’t say anything, just continues watching Michael.

“This is going to hurt,” Michael says in a last attempt to get Alex to leave.

Alex actually rolls his eyes at that, “I’d like to see you try.”

Michael doesn’t actually want to hurt Alex, but he’s not opposed to scaring him a little.

The spell is relatively harmless, nothing more serious than getting hit by a stun gun.

Michael moves through it fast and pushes it to Alex. Alex doesn’t even move.

The spell breaks apart right before it hits Alex in the chest, bright shining golden light in the shape of Michael’s sigil intertwined with an incredibly strong protection spell.

Michael feels as though he was the one hit with the stun spell.

“You’re still wearing it,” he says feeling a little dazed.

Alex just exhales roughly and changes his stance. “I’ve never taken it off, Guerin.”

Michael swallows hard and Alex uses his distraction against him.

Michael manages to send the arrow flying around him and glares.

Alex shrugs. “Not going easy on you just because you can’t cast spells on me.”

Michael licks his lips and nods his head. “Alright. The old fashioned way then?”

Alex laughs and Michael stops once again just staring at him. “I’ve been trained by the best for the last ten years. What have you been doing again?”

Michael licks his bottom lip. “I’m sure you can beat me with both your arms tied behind your back, but do you think you can handle me and Andro.”

The shadows behind Alex coalesce to form a big black cat, who growls threateningly low in their throat.

Alex exhales slowly, but keeps perfectly still as Andro prowls behind him, blocking his exit.

“Are you ready for this?” Michael asks leaning back against the counter.

Alex licks his lips, but doesn’t answer.

He spins around fast.

Michael’s breath catches in his throat when Andro lunges at him. Alex ducks and tugs off the lasso hanging from his belt. A black rope until it’s activated and it glows moonlight silver white. The only thing that can detain a familiar.

He turns to Andro who lunges at him again, teeth bared claws out. Andro hits the protection barrier with a snarl causing bright sparks to fly from the impact, but the barrier doesn’t waver, shining bright before disappearing into thin air.

Andro snaps their teeth at Michael before trying to figure out another way to attack.

Michael moves then, and Alex runs at him, everything that Michael throws in his direction is flung backwards by several careless gestures of Alex’s hand.

Alex gets too close and Michael’s left hand spasms, a sharp pain radiating from the tips of his fingers to the middle of his forearm.

Michael gasps and takes a step back as the sudden spike in pain clouds his senses for a second.

Andro roars and shifts into a big black bear, who steps in front of Michael before Alex can get to him.

They raise up on their hind legs and attack.

Alex dodges the first swipe and jumps up on the stool and then on the counter. He swings the lasso over his head and throws it around Andro, but not before Andro hits him.

Their massive paw hits the protective barrier with enough force that the impact throws Alex clear across the cafe hitting the glass doors hard.

He crumbles to the floor, a gasping pile.

Michael takes a step towards him eyes darting all over him to make sure that he’s not seriously injured.

Michael sees intricate silver metal where Alex’s right shin should be, and feels a shiver go down his spine.

Alex gets up then, and the lasso is still wrapped around his hands. He tugs hard and Michael feels a pull in the pit of his stomach as Andro roars but gets dragged across the room. Michael should be helping them, but he feels stalled, frozen.

When Michael had given Alex the protection spell he’d spent nights braiding together into a bracelet with bloody fingers dipped in sacred oils, and inscribed with his sigil, it was to keep him protected from those who would harm him given that he came from a family of Witch Hunters. A protection spell is as powerful as the feeling behind it, and ever since they met, Michael has wanted nothing more than to protect Alex from everything that would cause him harm.

It’s so easy to forget that not all things that cause permanent harm are magic. Some are just plain old human bullshit.

The pain spikes through Michael’s hand and he looks up to see Alex standing nearby, Andro is wrapped up in the lasso in the same spot they’d thrown Alex.

They were giving Michael a baleful look.

Michael shook his hand out trying to get rid of the stinging, and Alex took a step back. The relief was immediate.

The crossbow that had fallen when Andro had attacked is back in Alex’s hands, pointing to the floor as he looks at Michael.

“Are you going to let me do my job?” he asks. “Or am I going to have to drag both you and Max in for questioning?”

“What happened to your leg?” Michael asks instead of answering.

Alex inhales sharply and takes another step back. “So that’s a yes to the dragging?” Alex asks instead of answering.

Michael tilts his head at Alex. “Do you know how long I’ve been dodging a meeting with your father in his interrogation room? Ten years. So drag me if you want. But what do you think he’s going to do once he gets me in a room with no witnesses considering the fact that I’ve all but branded you with my magic.”

Alex licks his lips and swallows hard.

“How do you usually get out of these situations?” Alex asks a genuinely curious tone to his voice.

Michael scoffs and looks away. “Your brothers aren’t you.”

He hears Alex inhale sharply again, and then exhale slowly.

“Guerin, I-” Alex starts, but then his wristband chirps and Cameron’s voice comes out of the teeny speaker.

“Mikey, it’s Charlie. Julie sent me to your location. He’s afraid you’re gonna mess up the extraction. You need any help? I’m five minutes away.”

“Mik-?” Michael starts raising an eyebrow.

Alex shoots an arrow at Michael that just barely misses him but he gets the point and keeps his mouth shut.

“It was a break in,” Alex says not looking at Michael but sweeping his gaze over the room. “Some small town hick with a witch ancestor somewhere down his family line and too much time on his hands using tricks too big for him to handle to get into the Crashdown, ultimately not worth the effort to chase down. I’m almost done with the clean up.”

“Alrighty, Mikey, I’ll meet you out front. We got two more spikes and your brothers seem to have contracted Lazy Dumbass Disease since you moved back.”

The chirp sounds again indicating that she closed the channel.

Alex sighs and then throws a look at Michael. “You should go before she gets here.”

Michael furrows his brow at Alex, “Just like that?”

Alex nods his head once.

“What about-?”

He starts his hands making a sweeping motion at the mess they made of the inside of the cafe.

Alex moves, and stands in the middle of the room making Michael stagger several steps away to stop the burning stinging in his hand.

He watches him as he pulls out the Manes Heirloom Talisman, along with an amber crystal and the golden charm in shape of a feather that gives him the telekinetic abilities, that hang around his neck tucked against his chest.

Alex inhales deeply, eyes close and begins chanting low under his breath. He opens his hands on either side of his thighs before he raises them up slowly, until they’re in the air above him.

Michael sees how the amber stone starts glowing, brighter and brighter. And he feels a tug deep in his belly, something he’s felt before but could never tell where it came from. Now seeing the way golden yellow light starts spilling from beneath Alex’s left wrist cuff where Michael knows his protection spell rests tied around Alex’s wrist, he knows that it’s magic getting pulled from him and into Alex.

Michael really should’ve probably asked someone before he’d made that bracelet for Alex. But he was seventeen and in love for the first (and  _only_ ) time in his life, and all he wanted was for Alex to be safe. Especially if he wasn’t going to follow in his father’s footsteps like his brothers.

Seeing him now, like this as the strength of whatever spell he’s about to cast is lifting him off his feet and rippling through his hair and clothes like he’s floating underwater, takes Michael’s breath away.

Makes him see what Maria had tried explaining to him once. That Alex was born to be a Witch Hunter, but that didn’t have to be a bad thing.

Michael has always thought that Alex is the most beautiful thing that he has ever seen, and seeing him after ten years just confirmed that he still was the most beautiful thing that Michael has ever seen.

But seeing him like this, the way he looks in complete control even while the spell takes him farther up into the air, is one of the most breathtaking sights that Michael has ever seen in his life.

He stops ascending, and Michael feels a strange pressure building in the air.

And then everything in the cafe that is out of place shoots up into the air and begins floating around Alex.

Michael remembers being seventeen and hopeless and asking Alex if he could keep a secret and then showing him what he could do under the cover of darkness tucked away behind the walls of the tool shed behind his house, making everything not nailed down float in the air around them.

He wonders if this is what Alex felt that night. This sense of awe and wonder. This clenching feeling deep inside of him that tells him that he has to get closer.

The pressure building bursts, like a popped balloon and Michael ducks as things go flying around the room.

He feels the wave of magic wash over him feeling familiar, like safety and  _home_ , leaving behind a scent like broken pine needles and honeysuckle and petrichor. He looks up to see that everything has gone back to its place, and the blood and scorch marks on the floor have also disappeared.

The golden glow dissipates and Alex sinks back to the floor, falling a little faster than he rose.

Alex touches the floor and sways on his feet and Michael moves, ignoring the stinging in his hand to catch Alex as he tilts towards the floor.

Michael wraps his arms around Alex’s waist and tugs him against his body as Alex reaches out and tightens his fingers in the fabric of Michael’s jacket, fists against his shoulders.

“Guerin,” he says voice breathless leaning heavily against Michael, pressing their foreheads together. “What are you still-?”

His voice trails off and he blinks blankly as though he lost his train of thought.

“I know how much magic takes out of non witches, Alex,” Michael says peering into Alex’s eyes his pupils were still huge.

“I’m a Witch Hunter,” Alex says eyes wide and watching Michael intently.

“I noticed,” Michael says flatly, clenching his left hand tightly as though that would help to stop the stinging sensation slowly crawling up his arm.

Alex shakes his head and blinks a few times. “No, I mean that I have Witch Blood running through my veins too, so do my brothers, so the term half breed really applies more to us-”

“Alex,” Michael interrupts him. “Maybe we should leave the discussion of the eugenics of the Witch Hunters for some other time.”

Alex blinks at him a few more times before he pulls back. He looks a little bit more aware and looks around the room as though inspecting if his spell worked.

He turns back to Michael with a smile on his face and then he frowns, and then his eyes go wide with shock and he pulls out of Michael’s hold and staggers back into the counter.

Michael can’t help the sigh of relief as the stinging stop, leaving his arm feeling weak.

“I’m so-” Alex starts.

“I was the one who decided to catch you,” Michael says cutting him off.

Alex shakes his head and looks at Michael straight in the eyes. “Thank you for making sure that I didn’t hurt myself. But you need to go before Cam gets here. She works with your brother, she’ll put two and two together if she sees you here.”

Michael licks his lips because Alex has a point.

“What about Andro?”

Alex licks his lips and snaps his fingers and the lasso unwinds from around them and Andro shifts into a big black panther again, coming to sit by Michael’s side, eyeing Alex distrustfully.

The lasso neatly winds itself in a loop on Alex’s belt and Michael gives him a look.

“Did you steal all of my tricks?”

He’d meant to have the last word, to leave Alex sputtering that he didn’t steal anything.

But as he puts his hand on Andro’s back, he looks back up to Alex who is smiling at him like he can see right through him. “Only the ones you used to impress me.”

Michael wills himself away immediately feeling a warm sweet feeling in his stomach that he immediately tries to smother out.


	2. Chapter 2

When Michael gets home it’s late and he’s understandably on edge.

Andro has been missing for over a day, which wouldn’t be weird, but Michael usually knows where they were at all times and something was blocking him.

Michael has been waiting for the other shoe to drop since it became obvious that while Liz had been marked and was now having to deal with the fact that a demon could be coming after her, he couldn’t help but feel like something much worse was heading their way.

The feeling gets worse when he notices the shadow sitting on top of his Airstream.

He takes a step closer and the stinging burning sensation shoots up his left hand and he takes a step back immediately shaking his hand out.

“Alex,” he sighs feeling his heart leap in his chest.

Alex snaps his fingers and the lights turn on throwing him and Andro into sharp relief.

Andro is a black lion, lying their big furry head on Alex’s lap. Alex has one hand in Andro’s mane rubbing against the top of their head.

The bad feeling in the pit of Michael’s stomach gets even worse as he takes in Alex’s appearance.

The sand scuffed uniform, the bloody tear on his left knee, the split along his bottom lip, the cut slashing one of his eyebrows in half, the bleeding purple and green bruise painting the entire left side of his face.

“What happened to you?” Michael asks stepping forward and ignoring the pain in his hand.

Alex watches him evenly and then shrugs. “Hazards of the job.”

Andro growls low in the back of their throat, and Alex pushes them away before he jumps down from the roof, landing just a bit unsteady enough that it makes Michael reach out with his hands to catch him.

He tugs Alex to his feet, and Alex gives him a hesitant smile.

“Thanks.”

Michael takes another step forward left hand clenched into a tight fist.

Alex’s smile drops and he watches Michael intently as he moves closer.

“What are you doing?” Alex asks sounding a little distressed as Michael gets closer, but he doesn’t move away.

Michael ignores the worry in Alex’s eyes and the anxious whining from Andro, and places his fingers gently on the bruised side of Alex’s face.

Alex inhales sharply, his eyes fluttering shut.

Michael closes his eyes and concentrates.

He says the spell under his breath and feels it spark along his fingers.

Healing magic is always difficult because everything comes with a price, and the price for this was halving the pain.

The bond formed instantly almost as though it was just waiting for a reason to connect.

Michael felt the presence of the demon as it pushed Alex away as though it were swatting a fly, the protective spell only working in preventing broken bone, but not the way he hits the pavement. Before that his brothers running away. Before that an argument that turns rough. Before that a fight with his father, the sting of a slap, splitting his lip open.

Alex pushes him away breaking the contact immediately and he glares at Michael.

Michael licks his bottom lip and hisses a little when he feels the split running across it.

The bruise on the side of Alex’s face isn’t gone, but at least he’s not bleeding anymore. Michael can feel how tender the left side of his face is and he looks at Alex defiantly.

“Don’t you think you’re in enough pain because of me?” Alex asks, motioning with his chin at the way that Michael keeps clenching and unclenching his left hand.

Michael clenches his fingers into a tight  fist and looks at Alex. “I don’t really care.”

“Well you should,” Alex snaps and moves, darting around Michael to get far away enough that his hand stops spasming.

He looks to Alex who is staring right back.

“I came here because I need your help,” Alex says after a tense silent moment.

That much is obvious, and it’s also obvious that coming here wasn’t his first choice from the way that Andro moves and forms at his back, still a huge lion prowling behind him as though making sure he doesn’t go anywhere.

Michael watches Andro with a furrowed brow and wonders what happened to the animosity from three nights ago.

Alex turns to see what he’s looking at and throws Michael a smile and a shrug.

“They saved my life,” he says simply and Andro moves forward and settles down on Alex’s side leaning their heavy head on Alex’s leg, giving Michael a smug look.

Michael thinks he needs to have words with them later.

He focuses on Alex’s previous statement since freaking out about his near miss would be silly since Alex is alive and breathing before him.

“Why do you need my help? Don’t you have a whole team at your beck and call?”

Alex exhales roughly, but gives Michael a serious look. “You owe me.”

Michael raises an eyebrow at that.

“I’ve been chasing this demon down for three nights-”

“Fuck,” Michael interjects dragging his hands through his hair. Hello, consequences.

“-and it’s been getting stronger the closer we get to the full moon. I need help to stop it, and Cam is busy dealing with the sudden influx in magical spikes. And there’s the little fact that no one is supposed to know that there is possibly a very powerful demon running around because like his sister, your brother couldn’t let an Ortecho die-”

“Okay,” Michael says cutting him off. “I’ll help.”

Alex stops the restless hand gestures he was making and looks at him.

“What’s the plan?” Michael asks flexing his fingers a little.

Alex bites down on his bottom lip and Michael wonders if he had always been this distracted by Alex’s mouth or if it was because of the distance, because his immediate thought isn’t danger, it’s  _want_.

“Well,” Alex starts and Andro starts to growl low in their throat.

Alex sighs.

“I need its essence-” Alex starts defensively.

“No,” Michael says immediately knowing where this was going.

“-to build the trap, Guerin! There’s no other way, unless we undo the spell that brought it here in the first place!”

Michael inhales roughly and looks away from Alex pacing restlessly for a few seconds before looking back at him.

Alex is looking at Andros eyebrows furrowed as though he’s having a silent conversation with a being made up entirely of shadows and magic and brought to life by Michael’s essence.

It says a lot about Michael’s feelings for Alex which is a problem for another time.

Alex looks up at him and raises an eyebrow.

“Fine, what’s the plan?”

Alex swallows hard. “It marked me.”

He tugs up the right sleeve of his shirt to show Michael the stark black mark on his forearm, several interlocking circles with a black dot right in the middle. It’s a perfect match to the mark on Liz’s arm.

“But it can’t find me if I’m wearing the Talisman.”

Michael exhales roughly and shakes out his left hand.

“That thing is the only thing cloaking your essence,” Michael says slowly. “You’re strong, Alex. Even for a Witch Hunter. This demon won’t be the only thing we’ll attract if you take it off.”

Alex just moves to slide up his left sleeve, and Michael feels something akin to an electric shock when he sees the bracelet, the way the weaved together black and rusty brown strands stand out against Alex’s pale skin, how the sigil is pressed down against the vulnerable skin of his wrist.

Michael can also make out a thick scar going directly down from the middle of his forearm to the edge of his palm.

Michael takes a step forward feeling like the bottom of his world dropped out and Alex just lets his hands drop.

“I didn’t do that to myself, if that’s what you’re thinking,” he inhales deeply, and talks fast. “Once the Council heard word that I was invulnerable to spells they thought it would be an asset. When they found out  _how_ I’m protected however, it became a problem they were determined to fix.”

He looks at Michael raising his eyebrows and Michael feels  _known_.

He wonders just how much of his life before they met had Alex deduced from the little he said when they were together.

Alex keeps talking before Michael can say anything.

“The point I’m trying to make is that I’ll be fine. I got you to protect me.”

He sounds so sure about it that Michael wonders how many times he’s had to rely on it to protect him.

Michael vaguely remembers a pain slashing down a straight line in his left arm, weeks after Alex had disappeared, but he had thought it was aftershocks of the curse. The scars along the back of his hand were still tender then.

Michael licks his lips and sighs surrendering to the inevitable.

Alex looks determined to do this, and Michael will help him not only because he’s Alex, but also because this mess is partially his to clean up as well.

“If I die,” Michael sighs dramatically and both Alex and Andro glare in his direction. “I’m never speaking to you again.”

Alex gives him a reproachful look, but turns to Andro.

“Now, you need to let me out of the protective circle.”

“What protective circle?” Michael asks feeling confused and alarmed.

Alex throws Michael an incredulous look. “The one surrounding the area. Your Airstream is the center point. It stops right where your truck is parked.”

When Michael doesn’t feel any less alarm, Alex sighs.

“You managed to create a familiar, and a pretty powerful one at that, but you don’t know anything about them, do you?”

Michael looks away, “Didn’t have the books to study it. Andro wanted to be born so I gave them life.”

When he looks back it’s to see that Alex is looking at him with soft eyes full of emotions that Michael isn’t prepared to be dealing with tonight when Alex is determined to act as bait for a powerful demon.

“Andro made a protective barrier around the place where you feel the safest to make sure that you are always safe. No one who has bad intentions can cross the barrier. It is rather impressive.”

He says the last bit casting his eyes to Andro, but Michael feels a shiver go down his spine at the praise.

“He’s here now and we have a plan,” he says taking a step towards Michael’s truck.

Andro gets in his way growling low in their throat.

“I’ll be safe. I promise if something happens you have permission to sit on me until I’m all better.”

Michael watches as Andro stares at Alex intensely and then looks to Michael, clearly saying, keep him safe or else.

Yeah, he definitely needs to have a talk with Andro.

Alex starts walking again and this time Andro lets him pass.

Michael follows behind him reaching a hand out to Andros who pushes their head against Michael’s knuckles.

Alex stops right by the tailgate and turns eyeing Michael when he stops right as his hand starts tingling.

“Maybe we should get someone else to help-”

“I can do it,” Michael says cutting him off.

Alex sighs, shaking his head, but doesn’t protest when Michael moves towards him.

Michael can deal with the pain.

Alex tugs the bundle of necklaces out from beneath the collar of his shirt.

He separates the Manes’ Heirloom Talisman from the rest and looks up inhaling sharply in surprise when he sees how close Michael is.

Michael reaches for the necklace and Alex’s hands fall to his sides, swallowing hard.

Michael looks into his eyes right as his fingers graze the medallion.

The pain that shoots through his hand intensifies, feeling like his skin is on fire.

He hisses, and looks away when he sees the guilt flooding Alex’s eyes.

He hooks his fingers into the golden chain and bites his lip before he moves to take it off.

He feels it tug slightly and the pain in his hand intensifies until he finally gets it over Alex’s head.

There is a sensation like a bubble being popped and then the pain disappears as though it was never even there and all Michael can feel is an overwhelming sense of relief.

He gasps, and the talisman falls to the floor as he drops his hands and cups Alex’s face between his trembling fingers.

Alex makes a low noise and leans into the touch, whining low in his throat when Michael drops their foreheads together and slides his nose along Alex’s.

“Guerin,” Alex gasps voice trembling. “Is now really the bes-?”

Michael nods his head slightly tilting his chin back and just barely brushing their mouths together.

He hums, and Alex’s hands reach for him, fingers clenching into the fabric of his jacket.

“You’re right,” Michael says voice low and slow, enjoying the way that Alex trembles in his hold, body yearning to be closer. “I guess I can wait. What’s a little bit more time compared to ten years.”

Michael pulls back then and Alex chases after him as though their mouths are magnetized.

It makes Michael smile slow, and sweet, and smug.

Alex moves back a flush working it’s way across his cheeks. “You’re insufferable.”

Michael’s smile widens and he nods his head. “I can’t believe you forgot.”

Alex uses his hold on him to push him back rolling his eyes.

Michael grabs onto his wrist and tugs him along making the two of them stumble across the protective circle.

Alex laughs a little shaking his head and tries to tug his hand from Michael’s grip but Michael uses the hold to pull him closer.

Alex’s gaze goes from amused to trepidation and he watches warily as Michael lifts his hand to his face.

Michael thinks about the first time that he saw Alex how he had looked with his head bowed low over his guitar as he plucked at the strings and pulled out a tune that snaked its way into Michael’s subconscious and hasn’t left since.

Michael hums it now, low and against the skin of Alex’s wrist as he concentrates on the spell.

Alex’s hand spasms in Michael’s hold and Michael presses a kiss to his wrist the bracelet pressing against his lips before he pulls away.

The bracelet glows gold, the sigil burning bright and it expands like a blanket of golden light that covers Alex like a second layer of skin.

He’s still holding on to Alex’s wrist when he feels the spell sink into him.

Alex gasps, mouth dropping open as his eyes close and Michael feels how he shudders and how his knees go weak as he stumbles.

Michael drags him close, and Alex’s eyes flutter open.

“What was that?” he asks blinking at Michael.

Michael shrugs, a greedy part of him happy that Alex is invulnerable to all spells but Michael’s protective ones. “An additional layer of protection infused by one of my favorite memories of you.”

“Oh,” Alex says dumbly and stares at Michael intently for a second before Andro growls low in the back of their throat and Alex immediately goes tense all over.

Michael looks to Andro who is looking behind behind him and then before he can look to see what they’re staring at, Alex is pushing him to the down and to the side toppling them to the floor.

Michael feels the heat of a fire chain swinging dangerously above them as several howls and growls reach his ears.

He exhales roughly and glares at Alex who is looking at him and gives him a sheepish smile when he notices that Michael is watching him.

“And you were just  _not_ gonna mention the pack of Hellhounds?”

Alex gives him a grin that makes Michael’s mouth dry up and he pushes himself to his feet looking down at him, “It was supposed to be a surprise. A happy late birthday gift.”

Michael lies back on the floor as he hears Andro go on the attack.

“We’re gonna die.”

He can  _feel_ Alex rolling his eyes.

“Come on, Guerin! I’ve seen your record. This wouldn’t be the first time you go up against a couple of Hellhounds.”

He has a point Michael has to admit. But both times had been with Max and Isobel at his side which always made him stronger.

Michael looks over to respond when Alex moves.

He whirls around, hands reaching beneath his jacket against his back. He tugs out the crossbow and shoots at the Hellhound that had been sneaking up behind him.

The beast growls as it jumps out of the way, hissing as one of the arrows grazes the side of its face. The arrows aren’t silver, but they are sharp enough to cause enough damage.

Michael scrambles to his feet as Alex runs the few steps to his truck and climbs up on the side on to the truck bed until his back is pressed to the window of the cab.

The beast shakes its head roaring loud and runs full speed at Alex.

Michael watches as Alex fumbles at his belt and at first he thinks he’s going to use the lasso on it, but then he’s tugging out a long thin silver sword as though his belt were a sheath.

Michael freezes watching as Alex runs and jumps up on the edge of the tailgate before he’s launching himself at the Hellhound.

He swings the blade down and there is a sickening slicing sound and a low unearthly grunt and Alex flips and lands on one knee sword held at an angle in his hands.

The Hellhound falls to his knees and his head starts falling from his neck as he bursts into flames and smoke and ashes.

Michael’s so distracted by how incredibly hot that was that he’s completely blindsided when one of the other Hellhounds hits him with one large paw, knocking him clear across the empty space towards the Airstream.

Michael huffs, feeling a sting in his pride, but he gets up fast and smiles a little when the beast knocks against the invisible barrier, ripples in grey silver tones visible every time it hits one massive paw against it.

Michael takes decisive steps towards it, reaching a hand out and pushing the beast back as hard as he can. It goes flying, landing nearby where Alex is fighting against two others, sparks of golden light surround him as he ducks and swirls and hits back proof that Michael’s spell is in full effect.

He spots Andro chasing after the last one, snapping their jaw against its heels.

Michael inhales and reaches for the heaviest item in the junkyard while the beast going after him gets up.

It’s hard but he tugs and smashes a big rusty yellow crane right against it.

The Hellhound dies with a shriek and a ball of flame and ash.

The crane swings alarmingly and Michael barely manages to stop it before it crashes into Alex who had rolled out of the way and rolls back avoiding the crane holding his hands up to block the punch.

Michael pushes the crane to the other side and jumps, propelling himself higher to land against the back of one of the beasts going after Alex, wrapping his arms around its neck and tugging down with all of his weight so that the beast falls to his back.

He darts a look at Alex to see him tugging a thin silver chain from around his neck as he moves back to his feet.

Michael watches him weave out of the way as the beast goes to punch him again and wrap

the thin chain around its wrist before looping the chain around its neck forcing its fist right beneath his throat.

He tugs hard against the chain grunting with the effort, and Michael turns away stepping back as the Hellhound at his feet gets to his feet in one single bound.

He hears a sickening squelch and grunt then the whoosh as the Hellhound dies behind him.

The beast in front of him pulls out a fire chain and swings it against his side. It hits the floor with bright sparks and then it charges at him swinging the chain out first.

Michael ducks out of the way tumbling into a roll and landing on a slide.

“Catch!” he hears Alex yell and immediately feels the cold metal of the chain landing against his hands.

He’s distracted minutely by a pained yelp coming from Andro, but he knows that Alex is going after the last Hellhound Andro had been keeping at bay.

The searing heat of the fire chain catches against his arm, and Michael moves fast, flattening himself on the ground before it could do more damage.

He winds his fingers around the delicate feeling chain in his hands and gets to his feet.

He runs around the Hellhound, swinging the chain like a lasso and over his head before he throws it and makes sure it lands wrapped around the Hellhounds neck.

He turns, pulling the chain from over his shoulder hard.

It gives way so easily that Michael stumbles forward as the beast grunts and dies.

He looks up in time to see Alex stumbling from the last Hellhound as it falls to its knees and dies landing wrong on his feet.

Michael catches him, reaching with his hands as soon as he’s close and letting him go so that he braces him with his body.

Alex is smiling as he grabs onto Michael’s shoulders.

He looks at him, eyes bright, a wide smile on his face, breathing heavily, and sweat plastering his hair to his forehead with blood staining one corner of his mouth and Michael wants to kiss him so badly that he’s moving in before he can think too hard about it.

Michael fits his hands to Alex’s jaw and Alex gasps and moves into the touch, fingers clenching on Michael’s shoulders.

Before Michael can press their mouths together, Alex jerks in his hold.

His right hand is torn away from Michael’s shoulder with enough force that it swirls him around.

“Alex,” Michael says.

“Fuck,” Alex breathes at the same time.

His right arm is in the air in front of him but his eyes are staring off into the distance.

Michael looks over and can just barely make the smoky dark outlines of a large demon.

Fuck is right.

“Why didn’t you say it was that big?” Michael asks feeling like he may be out of his depth.

Fighting Hellhounds was one thing, going up against a demon that looked to be at least twenty feet tall and was powerful enough that it had taken complete control over Alex from over several hundreds of feet away was a total other thing.

“It wasn’t,” Alex hisses clenching his teeth hard as he gets dragged several feet forward.

“I fucking hate demons,” Michael says and wraps his arms around Alex’s waist only to be dragged along with him as well.

Alex laughs a little hysterically.

“And the plan?” Michael asks reaching out with one hand behind him and closes his eyes and concentrates grabbing onto the pipes buried deep in the ground. Alex wraps his left hand around the hand Michael still has on his waist and when the demon tugs again they dig their feet into the ground and pull back.

There is a loud groaning noise from beneath them as the ground starts to shake.

Alex screams out in pain loud and piercing and it tears something inside of Michael.

He yells and the ground shakes harder and then there is a snap and they go flying backwards.

Michael pushes himself to sitting position and looks for Alex who is dragging himself to stand.

He has his right arm curled to his chest.

“So that wasn’t part of the plan?” Michael asks and gets to his feet, reaching to help Alex.

Alex swallows hard and looks over to where the demon seems to be waiting for them to make another move.

“It wasn’t able to control me before. Something happened. It’s gotten stronger.”

Michael nods his head, “Okay, plan B then.”

Alex throws him a confused look, but Michael is already moving.

He grabs on to Alex and runs towards his truck.

Andro appears then still a lion running alongside them so that Alex is in between them both.

They were just about to cross when Alex stops suddenly the momentum almost toppling him back as both Andro and Michael try to skid to a halt. Michael falls and slides on the floor, getting to his feet and turning to Alex, but it’s too late.

The demon towers behind of Alex dark and terrifying, leeching all of the warmth in the air around them, and making the stars blink out one by one.

It makes a low wet hissing sound that makes Alex go all tense as it forces Alex to turn around to face him.

Michael tries to think of something he can do, but his terrified mind is drawing a blank.

The last time that he’d been face to face with a demon was the night that Isobel brought Rosa back from the dead, and Michael had been knocked out of the fight before it even began. When he had woken back up, Isobel was catatonic, Max was angry and Rosa was gone.

And now there was Alex in a monster’s thrall, and Michael doesn’t have to think too hard about why Isobel couldn’t leave well enough alone.

The air turns icy cold and there is an awful moaning groaning sound and then Alex lifts his left arm in front of himself crossing it over his right arm held aloft in the air.

The demon’s spell hits the protection spell with a sound like thunder and it pushes Alex back a little at the impact, but the bright vibrant gold of the spell shines bright dissipating the darkness of the demon’s spell.

There is deafening silence and Michael holds his breath as he inches towards Alex who is still frozen in place.

Michael takes two steps and the demon roars, a ripping wet sound that sends the smell of rotting meat and decomposing vegetables rolling straight pass them.

Michael gags and then there is another less loud roar as Andro launches themselves towards the demon getting in between it and Alex.

The demon shoots a spell at Andro and they break apart, disappearing into the shadow’s darkness as though they were never there.

Michael feels a sharp pain in his stomach and he tastes blood at the back of his tongue, but he can still sense Andro in the air, just too weak to reform.

“No!” Alex yells loud and sudden piercing through the air as a golden glow takes Michael’s gaze away from trying to find Andro and back to Alex.

Michael gasps and takes a step forward only to feel something stopping him.

The ground at his feet glows black and pulses deep purple, a barrier between him and where Alex is, the outlines of Andro’s protective circle.

Michael gets the bad feeling that as long as Andro isn’t able to protect him, the circle isn’t going to let him out.

He looks back up to Alex as the feeling of hopelessness crashes through him.

Black tendrils like fingers made of ash and smoke and darkness are wrapped around Alex’s left arm, lifting him into the air. The boost Michael had given protective barrier is working, surrounding him completely glowing bright and gold and strong.

The demon lifts Alex higher into the air, and Michael can tell he’s gritting his teeth so that he doesn’t yell.

The demon presses his other hand against Alex’s chest and he gasps, wet and painful.

Michael moves to take a step closer automatically, but a sharp pain pierces him in the center of his chest like someone wrapped their fingers around his heart and is squeezing.

Alex yells no again and the feeling gets worse, sending Michael to his knees as it spreads from his chest to his stomach, a pulling, tugging, squeezing sensation.

“Lea-ve h-im alo-ne!” he hears Alex heaving out.

Michael looks up at them, and can see Alex’s eyes on him, the golden glow surrounding him seems like it’s being funneled into the demon.

The pain intensifies and Alex screams as Michael tips over on his side.

He presses his forehead against the dirt as his vision starts to swim and a cold feeling starts to spread from the center of his chest and washes through him in a cresting wave.

Michael breathes out and he can see the white mist his breath leaves behind in the air and he would panic but there’s an icy cold numbness spreading across his brain.

His eyes fall shut.

“Fine! I’ll do it! I’ll take it off! Just let him g-!” he hears Alex’s voice from far away and it fades away with his consciousness.

***

Michael comes to with a gasp, sitting up immediately as he looks around disoriented trying to get his bearings.

He’s at the junkyard. He’s outside. It’s dark. He came home after talking to Isobel worried about Andro and found Alex-

His train of thought grinds to a halt as the memories of what happened flood his head. He looks around and this time spots the crumpled dark form that is Alex’s body.

Michael crawls over to him, feeling a sense of relief as he passes the protective circle with no problems.

He scrambles closer to Alex and turns him around checking his pulse and exhaling in relief when he feels it beating hard in his throat against Michael’s fingers.

Alex moans as he wakes up hands reaching up to his head.

Michael just breathes out and smiles propping himself up on his hands behind himself.

He touches something that’s definitely not dirt and closes his fingers over what feels like a bundle of rough fibers.

He feels the broken edges of something pricking along his palm and he brings his hand forward just as Alex speaks.

“Michael?” his voice sounds hoarse and Michael looks up at him eyes wide feeling his heart leaping in his chest.

Alex leans up on his elbows and smiles at him, but there is something odd about it.

Michael looks down at his hands and jolts when he realizes what he’s holding.

The bracelet looks so ordinary and plain in his fingers.

He remembers when he tied it around Alex’s wrist, how Alex had pressed in close when Michael had asked for his hand, how he’d listened carefully as Michael said what it was for, how he’d looked at him afterwards eyes wide and unblinking and on Michael for a long moment before he’d leaned in and kissed him.

Michael remembers saying, “It will only come off if you want it to.”

He remembers Alex’s response, words breathed against his mouth. “Good, because I’m never taking it off, Guerin.”

He looks back up to Alex and the smile drops from his face turning into a hopelessly bored expression.

Inky darkness leaks into his eyes turning them black and a cruel smile stretches across his face.

“Fuck,” Michael breathes.

The demon reaches out with one hand and flicks its fingers towards Michael.

Michael goes flying backwards again landing within the protective circle.

Michael gets to his feet immediately looking over at it.

The demon stands right on the edge of the circle looking at Michael intently.

Michael tries frantically to think of a way to get out of this, but he keeps drawing a terrifying blank.

It’s not impossible to expel a demon, but it’s not possible to do it alone. The only sure fire way is undoing the spell that brought it here, and that wasn’t even an option.

“I should thank you,” the demon says tilting its head and smiling that too weird smile. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be stuck with the fiery brunette from the diner, but Witch Hunters are infinitely more delicious. Especially one with my descendants blood running through his veins.”

Michael clenches his fists tightly glaring, the broken pieces of the bracelet held tightly in his left hand. “Well, enjoy it while you can because I’m going to send you straight back to hell.”

The demon laughs and it sounds wrong and unnatural like human vocal cords should never be able to make a noise like that.

“You?” it says incredulously. “That little trick with the protection spell was impressive I’ll give you that. But it’s the limit of your potential.”

It grins at Michael like it knows something that Michael doesn’t know.

“You have no idea what I can do,” Michael says clenching his fists.

It laughs again. “Then why don’t you come over here and show me?”

It raises an eyebrow in challenge like it thinks Michael is that dumb.

The demon sighs when all Michael does is stare back at it, “You witches, always having to do things the hard way.”

It crosses its arms across its chest and closes its eyes and Michael doesn’t have the mental space to worry about that.

He’s thinking that the only thing that could work is broken in the palm of his hand and making a new one would take too long. But there are shortcuts he could use to make a temporary one strong enough to break the demon’s hold on Alex. He just needs something already imbued with magic.

The demon laughs again and Michael’s gaze snaps back to it.

It looks amused. “It’s just like I suspected Witch Hunters are an inquisitive bunch. They don’t rest until they find the answers that they are looking for, and he  _knows what I know_.”

It sings the last line sounding deranged and laughs again.

“But most importantly, and primarily the reason why he came here tonight, proximity makes the spell stronger. Too bad I was even stronger.”

The words hit Michael like a jolt to the back of the neck, but not for the reason that the demon wants.

He looks over to his truck, and swallows hard.

The Manes’ Heirloom Talisman is imbued with powerful magic. And it’s already naturally attuned to protect Alex.

The only downside is-

Michael looks down at his left hand. At the scars lining the back of his hand. He inhales hard, and reaches out with the same hand, closing his eyes and searching for the talisman.

“Isn’t it just like a Witch Hunter to not care about the consequences? He came to you for help because he knew he’d be stronger. He knew if his powers failed him he could just drain yours like a battery. That’s all you are to him, a battery.”

Michael latches on to the talisman and turns to the demon, who seems to be struggling to find something suitably damaging to say.

“If you’re trying to provoke me, you’re going to have to try harder than that.”

Michael moves his fingers and the talisman flies from the ground to his hand.

The demon makes a noise of derision. “That’s not going to do anything even if you manage to get it around his neck.”

Michael doesn’t answer him as he kneels down on the floor.

It’s easy to form the casting circle even though his hands are shaking and to ignore the demon as it demands what Michael is doing.

Michael traces the spell on the floor in front of him and places the talisman down on top of it.

“You’re being boring,” the demon finally snaps. “I thought you’d give me more of a fight considering the fact that he could’ve come back at any time during the last ten years and kept telling his dad no.”

Michael jolts at that, getting distracted as he tugs a switchblade out of his boot.

“But if you’re not going to fight, I’m going to look for a more willing opponent.”

The demon moves his hand and Michael calls out sharply.

“Andro!”

There is a loud howl and then the demon is being thrown backwards by a huge black wolf.

Michael feels a spike of worry but he knows that Andro won’t hurt Alex too seriously.

He flicks the switchblade open and places the tip of the blade in the center of his left palm.

He would find the situation ironically amusing if it wasn’t for how dire it was.

He hears howls and growls and the demons unearthly screeching, and tries to block it all out.

He inhales deeply and slides the blade across the skin, slashing his sigil across his palm and the protection spell up his fingers.

Michael reaches forward and grabs the talisman in his bloody hand before setting his other hand down on the dirt before him, the tips of his fingers grazing one of the curling symbols and inhales.

Michael thinks of Alex.

Of the first time that he touched Alex, and how his fingers trembled as he tucked his hands right against the curve of Alex’s jaw, skin soft and smooth as Michael pulled him in.

Of the first time that he saw Alex, and how his heart had leapt into his throat and he felt mesmerized and  _bewitched_ and unable to look away.

Of the first time that he heard Alex, and how his laugh was as clear as a bell, a sound that Michael heard from all the way across a noisy crowded room, and how it had been the sound reverberating around his head when he’d been trying to fall asleep that night.

Of the first time that he tasted Alex, and how his mouth was sweet from the gum he was chewing and wet and warm and addicting.

Of the first time that he smelled Alex, and how his scent is strongest right behind his ear, where his shampoo and his cologne mix together with a scent that’s just so uniquely Alex that reminds Michael of wood shavings and the breeze blowing across the hot sand.

He holds all of the feelings evoked in the memories and exhales and whispers the words to ignite the spell.

He feels the curse latch on to him immediately, sending jolts of electricity through his hand, and he wants to let go of the talisman but he just grips it tighter in his fist, fighting through the pain and thinking about Alex, about everything Alex means to him, all the good things and the bad things and that above all, Michael is willing to give up everything in his life if it meant that Alex would be safe.

His hand feels like it’s on fire, fingers losing strength as he clenches the talisman tighter in his fist. He moves his right hand and clasps it around his left fist.

His hands tremble and he can feel the blood sliding down his arm, dripping down onto the spell scrawled in the dirt and it starts to smoke.

“Enough!” the demon roars and then there is a yelp and a thud, and Michael shuts his eyes against the ache in the pit of his stomach that tells him that Andro is hurt.

He forces himself to think if nothing but Alex.

AlexAlexAlexAlexAlexAlexAlexAlexAlex _Alex_.

There is a flash of bright white light burning at the back of Michael’s eyelids. And he feels the magic pour out of him like opening a water faucet too far.

It doesn’t hurt per say, more like he immediately feels dizzy and faint and sick to his stomach like he hasn’t eaten anything all day.

Michael blinks his heavy lids open and sees the talisman in his hand feels hot, the golden light of the active spell peeking through his knuckles.

There is a loud sonic boom that crackles through the air and forces his gaze away from the talisman.

Michael looks up and sees it right at the barrier hands out in front it, eyes open and black and glowing and smoking.

He sees the amber stone hanging from Alex’s neck glow dark gold and then turn black like a well of ink tipped over into a glass of water.

Another loud sonic boom rocks through the air and the barrier shatters like glass that dissolves into smoke.

The demon smiles smugly and stalks in reaching a hand out for him.

Michael scrambles at his fading reserves and wills himself to his truck.

He lands on the truck bed with a thud and looks around.

The demon whirls around and glares when he spots him.

Michael looks around again and wills himself to Andro’s side.

They’re still breathing when Michael presses his right hand to their flank.

“Come on, buddy,” Michael says. “I need you.”

Andro’s twitches but doesn’t wake up.

Before Michael can try anything else, he feels like something hook right into his spine and tug him back hard.

He lands right at the demon’s feet and before Michael can will himself away it’s reaching for him.

Wrapping fingers around his neck and using the hold to tug him to his feet.

Michael gasps weakly and wraps the sweaty fingers of his right hand around its wrists.

“Witches these days are so cocky,” it says into Michael’s face, looking at him with Alex’s eyes. “A spell is only as strong as the caster. And you’re no match for me.”

“You’re wrong,” Michael says weak and strained.

The demon smirks in his face. “You think you can take me?”

Michael shakes his head. And swallows hard.

“The spell is as strong as the intent,” Michael says as he presses the medallion of the Manes’ Heirloom Talisman to the back of the demon’s hand.

The demon yells loud and horrible as the talisman burns, and the spell works through Alex’s body.

It tries to push Michael away, but Michael tangles their hands together, keeping the talisman against him.

Golden light and black smoke pours out of their joined hands, and the pain pulses ever persistent in Michael’s hand but he just holds on tighter, clenching his jaw hard.

The demon struggles and then gasps loud and painful and then falls like a puppet with its strings cut taking Michael down with him.

Michael pushes himself up and unclenches his finger with difficulty reaching up and looping the talisman around Alex’s neck. It falls around his neck as though it’s magnetized and a tingling burning sensation starts working its way up Michael’s hand.

He drops down on the floor beside him falling on his back and looks up at the sky. He breathes in once, the silence feels deafening, the only sounds for a single long second; the wind rattling through the spare metal parts and Andro’s soft wheezing.

Then Alex gasps loud and hoarse and arches on the ground.

Michael sits up with difficulty as Alex twists and turns and then sits up suddenly and moves turning his head to the side as he coughs and coughs until he’s gagging.

Michael crawls over to his side and then gasps as the pain spasms in his left hand hard reminding him not to get too close, stopping him in his tracks as he presses his head down against the dirt as he cradles his hand to his chest, breathing through the pain.

Alex dry heaves, coughing one last time and Michael hears him drop back down on the floor.

Michael looks over to him and he’s got his eyes closed, breathing hard, something darker than blood staining the corners of his mouth.

Michael shuts his eyes and exhales through the pain and tries to concentrate on anything else.

He focuses on Alex’s breathing, and realizes with a jolt that Alex and Andro are breathing in sync.

Andro came to him in the aftermath of Alex disappearing, a nagging tugging in the back of his head, a tight squeezing around his chest, a painful clenching in the pit of his stomach that wouldn’t let him be until he’d given into his instincts and had performed the spell.

He’s so concentrated on their breaths that he doesn’t hear the hissing smoke of the black goo that Alex had just thrown up until Alex speaks.

“Fuck,” he says and his voice sounds like it was scrapped raw with sandpaper.

Michael’s eyes open and he watches as Alex sits up and tugs a silver flask out of one of his many pockets.

He leans over and collects some of the goo inside and then drops back to the ground looking over to Michael.

“Mission accomplished,” he croaks giving Michael a tentative smile, and Michael wants to laugh but he’s afraid that he just might start crying instead.

He just sighs and closes his eyes again.

The hissing sound from the goo gets louder and Alex sighs again low and tired. “ _Fuck_.”

Michael feels him get up and feels him get closer, and he clenches his left hand tighter and feels a drop of blood running down his wrist.

“We should probably head back to the protective circle.”

Michael laughs at that, and it sounds all wrong and there is a clench in the pit of his stomach as the demons words come back to him, that Alex is only here because being near Michael gives him a power boost.

“The demon shattered it like glass when I turned your family heirloom into a protection spell,” he croaks.

He feels Alex gasp and then scramble backwards until he’s far away enough that the pain recedes like a wave.

“Okay,” Alex says and there is something odd in his voice that Michael can’t quite decipher.

He can feel the exhaustion tugging against the edges of his consciousness. The feeling of using too much magic in such a short period of time makes him feel like he’s going to be sick at any second and he can feel the edges of a headache threatening to take over, and a stinging sensation spreading from his right arm where the Hellhound had caught him with the fire chain.

“Okay,” Alex says again as the hissing sound gets even louder and Michael can feel the cold and heavy feeling of the demon slowly reforming. “One thing at a time. Good thing you weren’t the only one who came up with a Plan B.”

Michael wants to laugh but he coughs instead and blinks his eyes open watching as Alex gets to his feet and starts to look around, “Where is Andro?”

Michael doesn’t say anything, because Alex spots them then and runs towards them.

Michael turns towards his back and looks up at the stars listening to Alex talk as he gets to Andro’s side.

“Hey there baby,” he says voice low and soothing like he was talking to a child and not a terrifying magical creature. “We gotta wake up now, Michael needs us.”

Michael’s breathing hitches and then he feels something warm spread from the center of his chest to the rest of him, infusing him with enough energy that he opens his eyes and leans up on his elbows and through the heavy dark smoke he can see Alex bent over Andro, his hand on Andro’s chest a golden glow spilling from between them.

Michael inhales sharply as Alex falls on Andro exhaustion finally hitting him.

Andro makes a purring sound low in their throat and the warm feeling in Michael’s chest gets stronger as Alex says something voice muffled and too low for Michael to make out.

Michael exhales and lets himself fall back onto the dirt.

The unearthly ghastly moaning sound that the demon makes as it reforms makes all the warmth flee his body replacing it with an icy cold dread and a sense of exhaustion that makes his head swim and immediately clouds his senses.

He looks up and all he can see is darkness floating above him.

It moves downward suddenly and Michael’s thoughts freeze as it descends on him.

Before he can figure out what to do there’s a golden flash like lightning and the demon yells loud and terrible as it flees back from it.

Michael blinks slowly and then Alex is standing above him, feet on either side of Michael’s hips at he faces against the demon.

Dark purple smoke and golden light swirl around him and the power is radiating from him in waves that makes his clothes and hair ripple as though he’s caught in a windstorm.

As Michael watches, he raises his arms above him, crossing them at the forearms and ducks his face.

The demon’s spell hits a barrier that surrounds them like a bubble as the dark spell breaks into dark red sparks. The dome surrounding them crackles with golden and silver grey flashes.

Michael feels a tug deep in his gut that makes the edges of his vision fade as he feels the bile at the back of his throat.

When the spell clears, the demon snarls something horrible sounding that makes Alex look up immediately.

“Because I know something that you don’t,” Alex says and his voice has an odd timber, like he’s growling the words at the back of his throat.

The demon hisses something but Michael can’t look away from Alex and he notices when his stance changes.

Alex raises one hand in the air and goes through the banishment spell words sharp and precise.

The demon vanishes with a loud unearthly groan, and Michael feels a sensation like someone is tugging against the base of his spine. His vision goes black around the edges and he tips his head back and passes out.

***

Pain spasms through Michael’s hand in small electric bursts that wake him up.

He flexes his fingers and feels the way his entire hand is bandaged, and he’s pretty sure he can feel the edges of a pair of butterfly stitches above his eyebrow and gauze wrapped tightly around his right bicep.

He can feel the usual aches and pains that come from a fight that exhausted his magic, and he stretches out on the bed struggling to remember what happened through the fog of exhaustion.

“Sorry,” Alex says voice tight and just a little bit shaky, making Michael jump and freeze. “I just needed to sit down for a moment.”

Michael swallows hard as everything comes back to him in waves, and then he blinks his eyes open and looks out of the window, the sky is lighting up with the dawn. He takes a deep breath looks to the side and sees Alex, sitting with his back to him on the edge of Michael’s bed, right by his hip.

His hair is wet and dripping down the back of his neck, and he’s not wearing a t-shirt, the expanse of the skin of his back on display for Michael’s eyes to catalogue every scar and every burn and Manes’ Family Sigil in stark black right in the middle of his shoulder blades.

Ten years ago Alex’s skin was unmarked and smooth and pale.

Michael remembers the first time he’d slid his hands beneath his shirt and touched his soft, warm skin, remembers the last time he’d had his hands pressed against the sweaty skin of his lower back as Alex pressed in close, closer than anyone else has ever been inside of Michael.

Michael’s eyes fall shut and he shudders, and his hands ache with the urge to touch him again.

Alex moves, and then hisses in pain.

Michael opens his eyes again to watch him leaning forward, hands massaging right underneath his right knee.

Michael sits up, and Alex straightens up, tensing immediately.

Michael manages to slide off the bed without touching Alex and realizes only then that they are both dressed down to their boxers.

He ignores the way that it makes a warm and boozy feeling spread out from the pit of his stomach and kneels at Alex’s feet.

He looks at the prosthetic for the first time and feels his heart leap into his throat.

It looks uncomfortable where the metal is fused to the skin a few inches below his knee.

Michael wraps his hand around the back of it, fingers touching the cool metal, and watches as the sigils etched along the front glow in white blue healing lights. He slides his hand up to where the metal meets the skin, but keeps his fingers pressed to the cool metal as he ignores everything and concentrates on the feeling of it, on how the magic works, and what he can do to help.

“It hasn’t been that long,” Alex says and his voice sounds even shakier than before. Michael slides his hand back down. “I haven’t gotten used to it yet. They said it could take months before I ever get used to it. I forget all the time, especially during a fight.”

Michael wants to ask if that’s the reason that he came back when he hasn’t for the last ten years, but he doesn’t really want an answer to that question.

Instead he concentrates and mutters a spell to relieve pain beneath his breath.

“Guerin, wai-” Alex starts, but it’s done.

Michael’s eyes open and he watches as the sigils burn bright gold and it spirals up in ribbon of golden light wrapping around where Alex’s skin is bright red and raw against the metal.

Alex gasps a sound full of relief and _pleasure_ and then falls forward, hands gripping the edge of Michael’s bed as his leg spasms in Michael’s grip.

Michael’s control is flimsy at best when it comes to Alex, and right now Michael has been aching touch Alex for what feels like  _years_.

Michael surges up, and Alex moves back keeping some distance between them.

Michael stares at him, and Alex stares back breathing hard.

“Why did you do that?” he asks breathless and hoarse.

“You know why,” Michael says moving in closer.

Alex licks his lips and swallows hard, and his eyes are still unsure, but when Michael moves in close, he makes space for him between his thighs.

Michael’s hands shake as he reaches for Alex, his left hand aches, and he thinks that maybe it’ll hurt more once he touches him, but Michael has to kiss him, if he doesn’t kiss him right now he feels like he just might die from the wanting of it.

Alex’s eyes fall shut, and Michael inhales deeply and presses his trembling finger to the curve of Alex’s jaw.

He’s so sure that it’s going to hurt that when the pain disappears like someone flipped a switch inside of him, all he can do freeze.

Alex is so still against his hands that Michael thinks his heart might have actually stopped beating.

But then he’s moving in, sliding his fingers to the back of Alex’s head pulling him in.

He stops right as their noses brush together and Alex’s eyes flutter open.

He stares into Michael’s eyes and his eyes are clear and wide, and Michael can’t help the smile that crosses his face at the thought that he had spent the last three days in silent anguish at the thought that it would always hurt to be near Alex, and now here he was, touching him, without feeling any pain.

He leans their foreheads together and closes his eyes with a sigh.

Alex moves into him until their lips are barely brushing, sliding his hands up Michael’s shoulders and into his hair.

Alex is still shaking against him, and Michael slides his finger up into his hair.

“It doesn’t hurt,” he whispers against his mouth.

Alex kisses him, fingers digging into the back of Michael’s head as he tugs him in even closer.

Alex is frantic against him like he’s on a time limit and needs as much of Michael as he can have, but Michael has spent a decade thinking that he’ll never see Alex again,  let alone touch him, and he wants to savor this.

He slides his hands down Alex’s shoulders, and down his arms and back up again, biting against Alex’s mouth until he gives him control of the kiss, and Michael slows it down, pressing his tongue to Alex’s bottom lip and coaxing his mouth open to kiss him deeper.

Alex sighs and his fingers loosen their hold in Michael’s hair and he tugs lightly against the strands moving in closer as Michael slides his hands down his back.

Alex shivers and moves in closer, moaning into Michael’s mouth.

Michael’s fingers stutter across the scars, and he feels the way that Alex tenses against him, before he’s moving back, parting their lips, noses brushing as he blinks his eyes open and looks at Michael as though he’s worried that the scars are a deal breaker.

Michael licks his lips and slides his hands even lower.

“Stay,” Michael says, sliding fingers into the waistband of Alex’s boxers.

Alex stares at him eyes wide and dark, mouth red and wet, and Michael wants to kiss him again. 

He’s leaning in when Alex speaks.

“I can’t,” he whispers voice low, and he’s looking at Michael like he doesn’t just mean to stay right now.

Michael’s fingers press into the skin of his back and he looks at Alex as seriously as he can. “You can’t?”

Alex swallows hard and his eyes are full of misery and guilt.

“I know the demon told you-”

“I don’t care about that,” Michael says roughly, wrapping his arms completely around Alex’s waist and pulling him in tighter.

Alex gasps and looks at Michael shaking his head. “It didn’t tell you everything.”

“I don’t care,” Michael breathes and leans in and kisses Alex hard and fast. “I don’t care about anything as long as you’re safe don’t you get that yet?”

“Don’t you know it’s the same for me?” Alex responds, eyes close as he presses his fingers into Michael’s hair and shakes. “It’s why I didn’t come back until now.”

Michael inhales deeply and presses their foreheads together hard.

“Alex,” he says voice soft. “Stay. We’ll deal with everything else later, okay? Just lay down with me.”

Alex blinks his eyes open, and stares into Michael’s eyes.

Michael looks back at him not hiding anything.

Alex exhales and nods his head pressing it harder against Michael’s before he’s pulling back.

“I did promise Andro they could sit on me until I’m better if something did happen, after all.”

At the mention of their name, Andro appears, a small black cat, forming at the counter and jumps on top of Michael’s bed curling into a dark blob right at the foot of the bed before giving Alex an expectant look.

Alex laughs, and it’s tired but delighted as he moves away from Michael to rub his fingers along Andro’s soft ears.

Michael leans back against his heels watching them and feels the warm and sweet feeling in the pit of his stomach intensify, and thinks he could get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> ....and this is only the beginning y'all!! Thanks for reading!! If there is anything that you want to know about this verse, or any story that you would like to read from it, come let me know on [tumblr](https://reachedthebitterend.tumblr.com/), because I'm already working on the second part and I have lots of P L A N S!!


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